CHEMICAL LABILITY. 



T 5 



in mind, that these are the most complicated combinations of 

 all, and that up to the present day our slow inductive methods 

 have not yet elucidated their chemical structure, although 

 numerous facts relating to the decompositions under different 

 circumstances have been discovered within the last ten years, 

 especially by Maly, Nencki, Dreehsd, E. Schalzc. It was there- 

 fore not possible to look here for an explanation in regard to the 

 constitution of the active albumen or proteids. A more pro- 

 mising way seemed to me to study at first the formation of 

 albuminous substances within the life-plant, as it was most 

 ■probable, that the active proteids were products of direct 

 synthesis. In this regard an important observation made at 

 first by Th. Havtig and later studied by Borodin, Pfeffcr, Kcllncr 

 and especially by E. Schuhe put us upon the right track : the 

 observation that in many cases of albuminous decompositions in 

 plants asparagin is formed in surprisingly large quantities, and 

 that this asparagin quickly disappears again in the formation 

 of new proteids, without any intermediate product being dis- 

 cernible. (See Chapt. V.). 



This led me to the conclusion, that albumen is formed by 

 a rapidly proceeding condensation-process. But in order to 

 render this possible, the asparagin had to be transformed first 

 into an aldehyde, the aldehyde of aspartic acid, from which 

 by condensation and reduction substances of the composition of 

 albuminous matter could be formed, as may be expressed by the 

 following equations : 



I. 3(C 4 H 7 N0 2 ) = C I2 H I7 N 5 0 4 + 2H 2 0 

 II. 6(C I3 H I7 N 3 Q 4 ) + i2H + H 2 S = C 72 H I I2 N l8 S0 22 +2H 2 Q 



Simplest expression for albumen 



If the condensation were to take place between the alde- 

 hyde-and methylengroups and the hydrogen indicated in the 

 equation II were to be used for reduction of 12 aldehydegroups, 

 the final product would still contain 12 aldehydc-and 18 amidogroups 

 and would therefore be of an extraordinary lability. 1 ) The 

 energetic motions in such a product could bring on oxydative 

 processes (see Chapt. VI.), in which easily oxydisable products 

 as sugar, lecithin, could participate. This process might lead in 



1) O. Loew. Pflug. Arch. Vol. 22, p. 503. 



